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Defensive secretion of the millipede Floridobolus penneri
A B Attygalle1, S C Xu, J Meinwald
1Baker Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
Abstract:
Six quinones were identified from the defensive secretion of the millipede Floridobolus penneri. The two major components, 2-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone [1] and 2-methoxy-3-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone [3], previously characterized, comprise 95% of the secretion. One of the minor compounds, 2,5-dimethyl-3-methoxy-1,4-benzoquinone [4], is a new natural product. Another, 2-hydroxy-3-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone [2], had been tentatively characterized from a microbial source. The other two components are 2,3-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone [5] and 2,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone [6]. No sex difference in the composition of the secretion was noted.